Ionic Liquids for Subtractive and Additive Nanomanufacturing

我建议研究离子液体在材料处理中的应用，特别是在纳米技术方面。纳米技术是在接近十亿分之一米的分子尺度上操纵物质的技术。这种规模的制造业进步使现代电子和生物医学技术得以实现。然而，需要更先进的工艺来制造更快的计算机、更好的药物输送系统和许多其他未来技术。在这个项目中，离子液体将被用来为这些制造过程提供新的选择。在过去的二十年里，这些令人兴奋的新型液体已经被开发出来，用于一系列化学和能量存储应用。在室温下，离子液体完全由带电的复杂分子（离子）组成，这使得一种名为离子液体离子源（ILIS）的设备成为纳米技术制造的新途径。在ILIS中，离子液体覆盖着一根锋利的针。通过给这根针施加高电压，就有可能从液体中产生一束离子。这种喷雾可以直接喷向要处理的材料。不同的离子组合可用于不同的材料加工应用，因为离子液体已经被广泛研究，并且已经发现了数百种稳定的成分。例如，光束可以包含活性离子，可以用来去除硅中的物质，硅是微处理器中常用的材料。改变光束条件和组成可以允许材料的侵蚀（减法方法）和在表面上沉积薄膜或创建结构（加法方法）。我将探索ILIS光束与不同材料的相互作用，研究ILIS用于材料去除和沉积的使用，并研究聚焦ILIS光束在纳米尺度上仔细处理材料的可能性。这项研究的第一步将是建造一个真空室，用于详细表征不同离子液体的发射。ILIS光束由几种不同的离子类型组成，因此将使用过滤器来分离这些成分。这些不同类型的离子将被发射到不同的材料上，以了解特定的离子如何与不同的目标发生反应。这些基础研究之后将进行实验，使用ILIS去除材料并创建纳米级图案。额外的实验可以执行与阵列的ILIS设备，以实现更高的吞吐量。从ILIS光束沉积离子液体薄膜或三维纳米结构的可能性也将被研究。最后，该研究还旨在利用聚焦光学从ILIS中创建聚焦离子束（FIB）。计算机模拟将用于设计聚焦光学器件，并将在这个定制的聚焦装置中安装ILIS。将进行实验来评估ILIS-FIB光束的聚焦性能，然后它可以用于几种应用，例如显微镜或纳米级的精确铣削。

I propose investigating the use of ionic liquids for materials treatment, specifically in nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter at molecular scales close to one billionth of a meter. Progress in manufacturing at this scale has enabled the fabrication of modern electronic and biomedical technologies. However, more advanced processes are required to manufacture even faster computers, better drug delivery systems, and many other future technologies. In this project, ionic liquids will be used to access new options for these manufacturing processes. These exciting new liquids have been developed over the last two decades for a range of chemistry and energy storage applications. Ionic liquids consist entirely of charged complex molecules (ions) at room temperature, which allows for a new approach to nanotechnology manufacturing with a device known as an Ionic Liquid Ion Source (ILIS). In an ILIS, the ionic liquid covers a sharp needle. By applying a high voltage to this needle, it is possible to produce a beam of ions from the liquid. This spray can be directed towards a material for treatment. Different ion combinations would be available for various materials processing applications, as ionic liquids have been extensively studied, and hundreds of stable compositions have been discovered. For example, the beam can contain reactive ions, and can be used to remove material from silicon, a common material used in microprocessors. Varying the beam conditions and composition can allow for both the erosion of material (subtractive method) and the deposition of a thin film on the surface or to create a structure (additive method). I will explore the interactions of the ILIS beam with different materials, study the use of ILIS for material removal and deposition, and investigate the possibility of focusing the beam of ILIS for careful processing of materials at the nanoscale. The first step in this fellowship will be to construct a vacuum chamber that can be used for detailed characterization of emission from different ionic liquids. ILIS beams are comprised of several different ion types, and so a filter will be used to separate these components. The separate ion types will then be fired towards a variety of materials to understand how specific ions react with different targets. These fundamental studies will be followed by experiments that use an ILIS to remove material and create a nanoscale pattern. Additional experiments can be performed with an array of ILIS devices, in order to achieve higher throughput. The possibility of depositing thin films or 3D nanostructures of ionic liquids from an ILIS beam will also be studied. Finally, this fellowship also aims to create a focused ion beam (FIB) from an ILIS using focusing optics. Computer simulations will be used to design the focusing optics, and an ILIS will be installed in this bespoke focusing setup. Experiments will be undertaken to evaluate the focusing performance of the ILIS-FIB beam, and it can then be used in several applications, for instance microscopy or precise milling at the nanoscale.